shòu
verb #8,260

Meanings

  1. 1 to sell; to retail
  2. 2 to make available for sale

Examples

HSK 3
Piào yǐ shòuwán.
Tickets are sold out.
HSK 4
Zhè jiā diàn chūshòu gèzhǒng diànzǐ chǎnpǐn.
This store sells various electronics.
HSK 4
Shòuhuòyuán hěn rèqíng.
The salesperson is very enthusiastic.

Tips

usage
出售 = to sell. 销售 = sales. 售票 = to sell tickets. 零售 = retail.

Components

radical
kǒu
mouth
Bottom - the mouth radical, the indexing component. Selling happens through the mouth: calling out wares, naming a price, closing the deal. means 'to sell, deal in, dispose of' (出售 to put up for sale, 售货员 shop assistant). The mouth-radical anchor makes the speech-act side of commerce visible.
phonetic
zhuī
short-tailed bird
Top - pictograph of a short-tailed bird - supplies the sound. zhuī shifts to shòu through a long but attested phonetic family ( historically related to 'to pay back, requite'). Faint semantic colour: a transaction is like a bird calling out across a market for an answer.

Stroke Order

shòu